Saturday, 1 December 2012

#8: Scorpion Swamp

SCORPION SWAMP

Steve Jackson (II)

Reviewed by Mark Lain

Very few FF
books have received such universally damning reviews and offended the
sensibilities of FF fans as much as Scorpion
Swamp. However, I really like this book and people need to see beyond the
superficial desire to pan it and see it for what it actually is – an extremely
important and original entry in the series. This book was FF8 in the original
series and has never been re-issued which is a great shame and it seems that
the FF production team took public opinion very seriously here and decided to
consign SS into some sort of
obscurity where it could be forgotten and not be allowed to upset anyone
anymore.

For many
different reasons, SS was a major
breakthrough and people seem to have forgotten this:

·It’s
the first Titan-based FF to be set on a continent other than Allansia which
suggests even greater size and scope for the series’ future at that time and
also, perhaps, that Allansia was for SJ and IL to exploit and that there was
another continent for the new boys to play with

·It’s
the first FF that could be said to be a true RPG as you can move freely in any
direction within the swamp, free of the usual FF restrictive linearity, plus
there is a built-in mechanism to deal with revisiting sections you have already
been to. No having to suspend disbelief and accept that things constantly reset
themselves and dead stuff reincarnates itself like we had to tolerate in Forest Of Doom

·It’s
the first FF that actually gives you a choice of mission, meaning there are at
least three different ways to play, making the playability of this book streets
ahead of the previous seven and, for that matter, most of the other FFs.
Personally I like to play all three missions simultaneously as this is probably
the most interesting approach but you need to play at least three times before
you even know what the three options are

·It’s
the first FF where you get an allegiance of some sort meaning your characters
can vary dependant on whether you choose to work for Good (being a wholesome Mr
Nice Guy and getting to feel good about yourself at the end), Neutral (pretty
boring really), or Evil (lots of fun as you get to be fairly sadistic, but the
book does admonish you at the end if you chose this route.) As you get to use
magic as well, your allegiance dictates your choice of spells (very RPG-ish in
theme). Good spells are generally healing or helpful to those you meet, Neutral
spells are pretty basic and act as a substitute for the usual potions you can
have in FF, and Evil spells are either for battle or for causing people/things
to suffer some sort of unpleasant mishap

·It’s
the first FF not to be written by either of the series’ creators. Yes, it’s
written by A Steve Jackson, but not THE Steve Jackson. It felt odd at the time
to be playing a non-SJ/IL FF, but it paved the way for lots of other writers to
add their styles and approaches to the series which helped keep it fresh in its
later years, plus SJ (II) is adding a lot in terms of the RPG feel that SJ/IL
hadn’t thought of, plus he’s not a bad author, so credit where credit’s due

·It’s
also the first FF to be released with the now iconic green spine and green
zig-zag stripe on the front. This was my favourite generic series cover design
and gave uniformity to the series which further added to the feel that this was
a whole body of work. Plus, I never liked the later gold/black dragon cover
designs introduced as of #25 as they seemed tacky by comparison.

With all this
innovation on offer, I struggle to understand why so many people dismiss this
book outright. And it’s not just got new and fresh ideas to offer – this book
is actually really good fun to play. The swamp is interesting and varied, but
it does have one failing in that it is hardly the intimidating “you don’t want
to go in there” sort of place that it’s made out to be - in fact, many of the
encounters are human-type and fairly non-lethal. Yes, there’s an unpleasant
bloodbeast-thing and some of the usual FF fare, but these are countered by
whimsical encounters such as a Will-O-The-Wisp and a sort of conman who tries
to rip you off. Key NPCs are the “Masters”, a group of wizards (and one witch)
who inhabit the swamp and have followers dependant on what they are
master/mistress of (Wolves lives with wolves, Birds with birds, Frogs actually
is a giant frog, and Gardens is a sort of cantankerous Titchmarsh figure who’s
plants protect him) – the only gripe here is their “mastery” doesn’t seem very
far-reaching as neither they or their acolytes go any further than whatever
number clearing they live in. There’s even a little town at the other side
where you can rest and/or get into an altercation, to create a feeling of
having “survived” and got out of the other side (which is actually pointless as
you have to go back to the entrance to win!)

On that note
we find another key element of this book which is unique – the clearings are
numbered which makes mapping this FF far easier than most. This may sound
facile but, as you need to return to the start to complete any of the three
missions, you will not get back without retracing your steps with a map.
Mapping was a suggested means of finding the true path in previous FFs, but in SS you really cannot win (unless you’re
really lucky) without using a map. Add to this the fact that the Neutral
mission is to actually make a map, you can get a little more of a feeling that
YOU are the hero and that this adventure is more than just words and dice. The
feeling of absorption is a make-or-break thing with FF books – some draw you
into their world vividly (eg the superbly-designed City Of Thieves, or the very atmospheric Beneath Nightmare Castle or Howl
Of The Werewolf) and this really makes you feel involved in the story; others
are oblivious to their readers and make no attempt to set any kind of scene (eg
the dull and lifeless Starship Traveller
or the simply badly-written Space
Assassin) so are lucky to get a second or third play-through. SS gets around any shortcomings in its
construction by forcing you to map the area and also by giving you the sense of
who you are – are you Good, Neutral or Evil? Should you feel bad about
murdering the Masters in the name of Evil or is that what being evil is? Should
you feel a nice warm glow when you heal someone if you are Good? Should you
feel quite as empty and cheated as you do if you decide to be Neutral or is
that what you get for sitting on the fence? The answer is “Yes” to each of
these and that’s the beauty of this book.

There is much
to praise in SS, but there must be a
reason why so many FF fans hate it and there are definitely some shortcomings
to this book, but no more surely than in any other? The problem here is that
the issues are with pretty important aspects:

·Ease
– all three missions are annoyingly easy (unless you want the frog talisman
which is impossible to get and not worth trying for as the Evil YOU doesn’t
need all the talismans) and it’s possible to complete each one on the first
attempt, which might be why there ARE three as it encourages re-playing

·Lacklustre
Missions – the Good mission is OK but you can get fed-up with being a
do-gooder. Bizarrely, the Good mission is probably the hardest as the Master of
Gardens is hidden away on a far edge of the swamp and is the least likely
character to meet unless you’ve found him in the past on one of the other
missions, plus he’s a git so you’ll probably be fairly inclined to kill him by
accident! The Neutral mission is hardly worth bothering with, but it does vindicate
your map-drawing and allows you free-reign to explore the entire swamp with
some justification. The Evil mission is the most satisfying in that it has the
FF “kill some baddies” feel to it, until you discover that the people you’re
killing are far nicer than your chosen mentor and you feel a bit guilty for
slaughtering people who seem to be minding their own business. Plus, most of
the Masters are at the start of the swamp so you’re less likely to get your
teeth into things and explore much

·Art
– there’s something lacking in the art in SS
as it all seems too bright to be in the depths of a murky and deadly swamp.
Plus it has a strange cheeriness to it that also doesn’t fit. Granted, the art
is well-drawn (unlike some other FFs) but it just doesn’t seem right and sets
the wrong tone

·Plot
– there isn’t one really. Basically, no-one else will enter the swamp, you come
along and pick a wizard to do a favour for, in you go, roam around, do what you
need to do, then it gets dark and it’s time to go back to see your chosen boss
and find out what crap you get in return. No satisfying back-story to set the
scene, no context to where you are, and not even the slightest feeling that
this swamp is in any way dangerous. In fact the swamp itself has a real feeling
of The Emperor’s New Clothes about it – sooner or later someone is going to
admit that it’s just not scary! Plus, there’s no satisfyingly-evil crackpot to
despatch or unimaginable wealth to be had for getting to the end

Scorpion Swamp is definitely playable and has
in-built systems to allow replay without repetition, which I really like about
it. Yes, it’s easy, but it’s also undeniably enjoyable because of its original
approach within the context of FF. I have always liked this book ever since it
came out and it really should get another chance to find a new, less harsh,
audience. Maybe it’s aimed at younger players, but FF WAS designed for kids so
where’s the harm in having the odd FF that you can actually beat without
cheating or having to play it 100 times first? My advice would be to play all
three missions at once and visit EVERY clearing – it’ll soon become apparent
that this book has variety and lots to offer, as long as you can tolerate its fairly
key shortcomings.

7 comments:

I actually find this one a lot harder than most, maybe because my maps end up looking terrible! The only problem I have with the artwork is that my copy of the book seems to have the pictures printed somewhat faintly for some reason.